PNP-CIDG chief mulls libel suit vs detractors
PHILIPPINE National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Brigadier General Nicolas D. Torre III yesterday said he is gearing up to file cyber libel cases against a group of vloggers who continue to tarnish his reputation by continuously coming up with fake news about him.
The official identified one of those set to be charged before the Department of Justice as former radio broadcaster-turned-vlogger Jay Sonza who is known for his association with former President Rodrigo Duterte and now jailed Kingdom of Jesus Christ founder Apollo C. Quiboloy.
Brig. Gen. Torre said the latest fake news about him involves a manipulated photo of him purportedly very sick and lying on a hospital bed.
He said the fake photo of him prompted numerous calls from his relatives, classmates, colleagues and friends who were asking him if he is fine and well.
“I’m ok and can even join a foot race, a marathon,” he told newsmen at Camp Crame in the aftermath of the 72nd PNP-CIDG founding anniversary graced by PNP chief General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil.
The official said his family has been badly affected by the unfounded allegations and fake news about him being repeatedly passed in social media by Sonza and company.
He said those fake news and “below-the-belt” tirades against him came at the height of their operation to get Quiboloy and continued when he became the PNP-CIDG director who has been in the forefront of the unit’s successful campaign against criminality, terror, economic saboteurs and other “enemies of the state.”
Brig. Gen. Torre has been subjected to a barrage of fake news and “below-the-belt” criticisms amid his successful effort to capture Quiboloy and his co-accused in a trafficking and child abuse case inside the sprawling KOJC compound in Davao City following a two-week long standoff between the police and his followers.
Torre was then the director of the Police Regional Office 11 in Southern Mindanao who was given by Gen. Marbil the task for arresting Quiboloy at all cost.
The United States Department of Justice in 2021 charged Quiboloy with sex trafficking of children, fraud and coercion and bulk cash smuggling. He is also facing separate child abuse and trafficking cases in Quezon and Pasig cities.
